A major part of each year’s Lincoln Days dinner is the Saturday night dinner with its guest speaker. This year’s event, in Springfield, featured former U.S. Attorney General and Missouri Governor and Senator John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft’s speech focused on the importance of freedom. "I believe freedom," said Ashcroft, "Is the single most important value that needs to be reflected in what we do in terms of our elections, in what we do in terms of our governance, because it is at the core of human inexistence and it is the condition which promotes human achievement."

Ashcroft went on to speak of the relationship between freedom and security. "I think the role of security," said Ashcroft, "Is to enhance and enrich freedom, not to balance it, not to be a counterweight, but to be its protector and is insurer."

The former Attorney General made it clear he believes security measures such as the monitoring of telephone calls to or from terrorist nations is an effort to enhance America’s security and should be embraced.